On 9 November, UNIAN reported that the US House and Senate Armed Services Committees have approved the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), stipulating a 350-million USD military aid package, including lethal defensive weapons, for Ukraine. Under the provision of „countering Russian aggression”, NDAA also authorises 4.6 billion USD for the European Deterrence Initiative, reinforcing the US deterrent posture in Europe.

NDAA makes provisions for half of the aid to Ukraine be „restricted” until US Defence Secretary James Mattis can certify that Kiev has implemented defence institutional reforms. The impact of the package, which shows the continuing US resolve to militarily support Ukraine, oscillates between prompting Russia to more cooperation (maybe a revisit of the Ukrainian UN peacekeeping deal) or prompting Moscow to quick aggressive power grabs in Donbass before the Ukrainian military strengthens. The news regarding NDAA’s authorization came as the OSCE announced on November 8 hundreds of weekly violations of the shaky truce reached in late-August in Eastern Ukraine.